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mich faire stmt fitte...

uIMPROVEMEN'I lIN PRUNING KNIVES.

L. B. MORRIS, oF HOPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY. Letters Patent No. 60,225,dated December 4, 1866.4

SPECIFICATION.

`TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known thatI, L. B. MORRIS, of Hopkinsville, in the county ofChristian, and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in the manner of constructing Pocket Knives; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,making part of this specification, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, like letters indicating'like'parts wherever they occuron the drawings.

To enable, others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention,I will proceed to describe it.

Figure 1 is a side view of a knife made ou my plan, and having a portionof the handle broken away to show the inside. 4

Figure 2.1s a back View of a double-bladed knife, open and Figure 3 is aplan view of the twoV sides of the handle, detached.

My invgntion has for its object the construction of a knife, in whichthe blade-shall be fixed or rigid, both when open and when shut, andwhich can be opened or closed at will.

Arepresents the handle, to which theblade B is pivoted in the usualmanner, as shown in iig. 1. The

pivoted end ofA the blade is formed on a circle, as shown by 1. and onthe back, at a point near the end of the j handle, a notch, Z, isformed, as shown. in iig. 1, for the reception of the lug or projectioni, formed on the handle at that point, as shown more clearly in theupper portion of iig. which represents that portion of the handledetached. On the under side of the blade another notch or shoulder, d,is formed, against which the .lug or projection n, attached to theopposite side of the handle, comes' in contact, when the knife is open,the i position of the lug n being shown clearly in the .lower portion ofg. 3, and also in position against the shoulder d, in iig. 1. The bladeB is inserted between the handles A, and pivoted, that being the onlypoint at which the handles are firmly united, the opposite ends beingleft loose, so that the two parts can be opened at the lower end,

and turned .around on the pivot that unites them at the opposite end. Astud or pin, o, is attachedto one sideof the handle, on the inside, asshown in iig. 1, against which the blade rests when closed, as shownred. In or i on one of the sides of the handle a spring, a, is secured,which, springing outward, engages in a notch in the under side of apiece, c, which is attached to the other part of the handle, andprojects over the end of thel spring a, as shown in the various igures.4A projection, e, is secured upon the outer surface of the spring a, asshown in figs. 1 and 2, for the thumb or finger to press upon, in orderto depress the spring and readilyopen the parts. To open the knife, itis only necessary to unloosc thecatch or spring a, and swing one of thesides of the handle around in a circle, upon the pivot, by whichoperation the blade will be opened, and as the handles are brought intoplace and sebured, the lu'g z will t in the notch l, on the back of theblade, while the A lug n, on the opposite side, will fit snug againstthe shoulder d, on the front of the blade, and thus hold it rigidly andsecurely'in place. To close the knife, it is only necessary to reversethe operation.y `It is obvious that, if desired, the plates of thehandle may be covered with wood, horn, or other `suitable material, thepoint e protruding through it so as to be operated by the thumborfinger. Thecatch a, iusteadof being arranged to operate as shown, maybe arranged to slide lengthwise, like a bolt,or' in any suitablemanner,` to secure the parts in position. Fig. 2 represents 4the back ofa double-blade'd knife,` constructed on this plan, the two outsideplates of the handle being, in this case, duplicate, each having theprojection e' thereon, while the projection n is attached to the centralplate on each side. It is obvious thattheseprojectionsmay be attached toeither"plate,"the only requisite being that they should be so located asto t into the notches or recesses in the blade, when opened. By thesemeans, I am enabled to construct a knife that is very strong, and thatcannot be'accidentally closed or opened, and that is specially welladapted to a pocket pruningknife.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, is-

A knife having its blade provided with the notches or recesses l and anda handle having thelprojections p z' and n, arranged to it therein, asshown and described.

L. B. MORRIS.

Witnesses:

W. C. Dones, WM. vH. BATES.

